This was MCC in the 1960's when cycling races around the track use to take place, and aspiring Belizean cyclist, like Barrow himself were part of the team of riders that competed against each other in the historic sporting arena.

Apart from football, softball, cricket, and Track & Field that once brought Belizean fans to their feet in roaring applause for their Belizean star athletes, The Garden, as it was called is a priceless piece of real estate that by no means should be abandoned and sold off into private hands.

If that is the case, we Belizeans at home and abroad should feel insulted that Belize's best sporting facility that once produced some of the best athletes in the world, that beat some of the best in the world, that defeated some of the best in the Caribbean, Central America and the United States, should be put up for a price.

Then if we allow such a thing, we are not honoring the best of our past, and would be disgraced in the face of the world that we did nothing and allowed one of the most precious legacy of our history that once depicted Belizean pride and integrity when we were respected in the world as world class Belizean athletes.

As the 2016 National Holy Saturday Cross Country Cycling Classic approaches, riders from around the world will come to visit Belize and our historic past that we wish to give away for a cheap price. We should not allow it to happen.

The following is a personal story by Patrick Barrow himself; a Belizean athlete and cyclist who remembered the memorable sporting days he spent as a youth at the MCC grounds in the 1960's:

"If I remembered my father had ordered the first ten speed racing bike to be used in Belize for my older brother Guy. In 1967, my younger brother Bunny fractured his neck while riding at the MCC Grounds in a cycling race, and he was not able to talk for two months.The doctors in the beginning were not sure if he would have been able to talk again ever. There were races from Belize to Chetumal, Mexico, and there was another race from Chetumal to Baccalar, and then back to Chetumal in the early 1960's."

Let's preserve this very historic Belizean sporting arena today, and continue in the tradition of our past. Keep MCC Grounds in the hands of Belize and Belizeans.

A historic photo of MCC Grounds in the 1960's where cycling races use to be held. (Photos courtesy of Belizemusicworld and Patrick Barrow).

This is a cycling race from Chetumal to Backalar and then back to Chetumal. In the early 1960's Belize use to have cycling races from Belize to Chetumal. In this photo, second from right, Patrick Barrow, and first from left B BOY, second from left, Denfield McNab.

A historic photo of MCC Grounds in the 1960's where cycling races use to be held. (Photos courtesy of Belizemusicworld and Patrick Barrow).

A historic photo of MCC Grounds in the 1960's where cycling races use to be held. (Photos courtesy of Belizemusicworld and Patrick Barrow).